Jacob Maul has had a busy year. Only six months ago, the Kansas City musician released his debut album, Through the Window. Over the course of eight songs, Maul explored, candidly, feelings of depression, dissociation, desperation and heartache, each track’s atmospheric production mirroring the ennui weighing heavily on his mind. The song structures across the record were less linear than those he’d penned before, the arrangements fuller, the instrumentation more varied. The reflecting pool reverb and weepy guitar leads on songs like “Wither Away” and “Windowsill” supported Maul as he forged boldly ahead into a more ambitious stage of his career.
Alongside these emotionally candid moments, he’d maintained some of the playful humor and laid-back melodic savvy from his prior SoundCloud singles that he cut his teeth making. Between Maul’s start in 2019 and Through The Window’s release this year, he’d released dozens of songs to the site, with hits like “Fantasy Garden” garnering hundreds of thousands of plays and building his profile in the internet alt-pop scene.
On his newest release, an EP titled heatRush, it might look like Jacob Maul is going back to basics. The songs’ subject matter sticks largely to his signature sensuality, and rhythm takes the center stage of his compositions, just as it did on early singles like “Psycho Daydreams.” Despite this, Maul’s return to his older bag of tricks brings with it a newfound self-assurance and versatility.
“Stranger Danger,” the EP’s lead single, lays it on thick. The agile bass licks wash up in waves against throbs of sidechained kicks while Maul launches into impassioned crooning and—unbelievably—a bizarre, cartoonish rap verse in the track’s final leg. It’s a somewhat stark opener, for better or for worse, one that manages to give the listener a bit of whiplash in its three brief minutes. “No Pressure” fills out the mix to follow straight away with its hyper-compressed walls of guitars and drum machines. Note also Maul’s vocal chemistry with his first guest, Morgan Smith.
It’s from this point that Maul grows restless with the somewhat plain alt-pop sound he established at the starting block. “Dirty Secret” takes the same dreamy guitars and punchy, programmed drums, twisting them into a trip-hop-inspired braid of soundbites. These he chops, rearranges and modulates until he’s galvanized a woozy, surreal reimagining of All-American Rejects, this time around performed live from a skipping, dust-walled record groove.
While the EP never again casts itself as far out from its comfort zone as in “Dirty Secret,” Jacob Maul continues to spin imaginative pop music, whether through the zany verses and sci-fi synths of “Too Hot to Handle” or the closer, which calls to mind Two Door Cinema Club’s spirited, jangly indie rock.
The last bit of magic the EP has to offer, though, is in its penultimate track, “Give Me All Your Love.” In this song, Jacob Maul spins vivid syrupy choruses from the same fibers the rest of the record was woven, this time with an especially fresh melody and some surprising chord changes.
I wonder then if this is the way Jacob Maul’s artistic future will look: returning with each new project to further refine and elevate the formulas he got his start from. Then again, he seems here to be looking towards other pastures, dabbling in genres outside of his own. Either way, heatRush sees Maul on an upswing. If you like what you hear, catch him now as he approaches his next peaks.
You can listen to heatRush here:https://open.spotify.com/album/0vn9Rf0AxESjdMSJZg3Ajy?si=x87Yym_7S7qE6rP4zGjXMQ